Sunday, January 1, 2012

Buddhist Forums

I am going to discontinue this blog soon, as it is not getting any response. I don't really care, and probably no one cares what I have to say about Buddhism. I was attacked by the Guide/Host at About.com's Buddhist Forum on more than one occasion because I support the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Hanh doesn't teach Japanese Zen the way her teacher does. This is the same person who tells someone that the Lotus Sutra states that all vehicles lead to the same vehicle. This pretentiousness has moved me on beyond About.com. My comment was about something other than that, but I don't remember exactly. When I read the reply she was scolding me for "slandering" Zen by saying it was Japanese. She said it was from China.
This is somewhat correct. Chan is from China. Zen came from Chan. From Wikipedia: "...Chán is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The word Chán is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state." " So, it is the same thing but the Chinese form was called Chan and the Japanese form is called Zen. I also had to endure a lecture about "non-morality" being sought by Western Buddhist wanna be's. Well, first for all, this woman lives in New York, not in Japan. Second, I think Buddhism teaches more morality than I see anyone in most mainstream religions actually practicing. So, her assessment of MY UNDERSTANDING was WRONG. Thirdly, I don't remember anything in any sutra where Shakyamuni Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) said that was any such thing as SINS in his beliefs. I don't believe in sins. To me, sins are rules invented by certain religious leaders to tell people right from wrong but with a good dose of mythology about Heaven and Hell and the threat of NOT OBEYING the rules of the said Authority Figures at the time. Cultural Conditioning and Reliance on Authority Figures is the first block to critical thinking.